It's a magical feeling to find yourself back in a place you visited exactly a year before and notice how much you've grown. Last year we visited Country Dahlias near the end of our first season as flower farmers. Jenny's two acre garden has Australia's largest collection of dahlias with 2,250 different types and over 20,000 bushes. Last year we'd planted two rows of tubers; we'd staked them, irrigated them, made peace with their pests, picked their flowers, dead-headed them, sold them and given them away, and absolutely fallen head over heels in love with each and every plant. All in all it was a great first season and when we arrived at Country Dahlias all we knew is that we wanted more. We were completely overwhelmed. We loved the colours, we loved the shapes, we loved the pom-poms, we loved the huge ones and the mini ones, and we wrote a wish-list so long that it went over the page. This is the blog post I wrote back then. A couple of weeks after we visited Country Dahlias last year we experienced our first frost and the end of the season. We let the plants die down, the weather closed in and we dug up their tubers in weather so cold and wet it hurt. We tried to keep the varieties named and separated but by that time the main thing was to get them out of the mud so they wouldn't rot. We brought them in and buried them deep inside boxes of saw-dust from Bren's lathe. We only had two rows but it felt like quite a big job and had us looking over lovingly at the rows of perennial flowers that were independently and quietly taking care of themselves. By early spring we were itching to get our tubers out of the saw-dust and into the ground. We watched some YouTube and learnt how to divide them and then in November we planted them all. Five rows this time. And again they bloomed like crazy and we adored them. This year on what feels like it'll become our annual pilgrimage to Jenny's I still had that same heart full of love feeling and I still felt so full of joy I could burst, but we also felt like more seasoned dahlia growers. We recognised so many of the varieties - some even by name, we thought a lot about practicalities - like stem length and strength, we tried to find gaps in our collection, and as always Bren was on the hunt for the perfect white. And this time we only ordered 10 tubers - I still can't believe we were so restrained. I still can't believe we're so close to the end of this season. I'd really love to have each plant labeled with its name and colour and description before we lose them, but I've had the tags cut out stacked in a neat pile for weeks now and it still hasn't happened. There's always something more pressing to do. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. I hope you have a wonderful weekend my friends. Whether it's filled with matza or chocolate or something completely different, I hope it's delicious. Lots of love to you wherever this finds you. Where is that by the way? And what will you be eating? See you next week! Love, Kate xx
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Last Thursday Little Red Pepper dressed up to celebrate the end of Fairy Tale learning at school and I rugged up in two pairs of woollen socks, tights, leggings, a singlet, a long sleeved top, a woolly jumper, cover-alls, a rain jacket, a scarf and a beanie. She looked adorable and I could barely move. A few days earlier, the principal of the girls' school had asked farmer Bren if we could come and lay some pavers between the preps' classroom and the main building where the high traffic and the wet weather had made a muddy, slippery mess. One parent had donated the pavers and we filled the back of the ute with shovels and trowels, a rubber mallet and a broom and we drove to school to get to work. First we marked out the winding path, then we cut out the dirt and grass and levelled it, filled it with buckets of sand-pit sand, laid the pavers, banged the pavers in, poured sand over them, swept the sand in the gaps and cracks, built up the edges with the dirt we had dug out and then stomped on the whole thing back and forth a few times to make sure it didn't move. And although we had chosen Thursday because it wasn't meant to rain, I think it was one of the coldest days I can ever remember. The clouds were so low that we couldn't see Wombat Hill right behind the school, the ground I was kneeling on felt like a wet block of ice and I'm certain my fingers and lips were blue. But gosh we had fun and laughed a lot. I loved spending the day off the farm with Bren working hard and doing something really constructive. I felt warm and fuzzy every time a teacher or parent or student walked past us and chatted and thanked us, I loved how excited the kids were with their new path and I enjoyed that exhausted feeling of a job finished and well done at the end. But by far the best bit was at home time when we stood with a bunch of school people at the end of the new path and watched as one by one people danced and moon-walked and shuffled back and forth down the path. There was so much laughter and silliness and happy community feeling. It felt like we were part of something wonderful. Something really good. I have no doubt that by next week the path will be just a path, used but not really noticed, but that afternoon it was something more. Later on after we got home, showered, changed, had a few cups of hot tea and finally thawed out a little, I told my farmer boy that that day had been one of the happiest I could remember. I feel like we are so lucky to be a part of such a special school, so blessed to be able to spend our day together getting stuff done and I am so grateful for the kindness we receive in return. And then my farmer boy told me that he believes that the real key to happiness is doing things for other people. Yeah!! Real, true happiness is not a selfish act. Real true happiness comes from giving and from community and from a place of generosity. And then I had one of those moments where everything becomes really clear and makes sense. I love it when that happens. Now I can't stop thinking about how to put all that into play in a bigger way in my life. I hope you have what you need friends. Happy solstice! xx The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. His Holiness Dalai Lama
Hello old blog! Hello friends! Long time no post. I hope you're doing really well. I'm just popping in to let you know that I've started blogging again. You can find my new blog over at foxslane.com.au It'll be pretty much full of the same sort of things I was blogging about over here; craft, family, farming, books, podcasts, life, loves and so much more. I really hope you come and join me over there. Lots of love, Kate xx
We walked through the forest, she and I. She didn't want to go at first but I needed to. I had to. So I bribed her with a piece of fairy bread and she came skipping. I told her that the rules were that we were going to listen instead of speak. That we would try to hear all the forest's noises. That we would try to see all the treasures. And maybe even some creatures too. And she loved it. She found handfuls of moss, mushrooms and interesting sticks and leaves. She listened and heard birds and crackling branches and the faraway dogs. She heard the wind through the trees. And of course she heard the camera shutter. Funny that. I loved it. I loved watching her. I loved the silence. I loved the stillness. I felt like I could breathe. Like I could think. Like I was slowing down. Like I was listening. And the day went on. Miss Pepper is wearing my latest hand knit Suzanne the cardi. Suzanne is the most wonderfully, clever pattern designed by the fabulously clever Georgie Hallam aka Tikki. Suzanne is still in the testing phase but I'll be sure to let you know when it's released. My Ravelry details are here. Next I'm knitting a stripey hottie cover and crocheting the last of my motifs. I like to follow long term projects with quick. Do you? What are you making at the moment? I hope you are having a wonderful week. Bye! xx
How do I write a blog post about something I've written about four times before? How can I explain the feelings of excitement and love and passion that come up for me when I am surrounded by so much of what I love? How can I describe in words that feeling of being overwhelmed with inspiration? Of so many plans and ideas and thoughts that start in my tummy and travel upwards until they makes me feel like I'm going to explode? Like I have to get started. Like I have to do all the things, all at once. How on earth can I explain an event that is a tactile and aromatic and visual explosion? How can I explain to you just how wonderful it feels to be surrounded by people who LOVE what you love and want to show you, and teach you, and talk to you about it for as long as you do? How can I make you feel the wonderful feelings that go with bumping into friends who love what I love, friends who open up their bags to share their purchases and stoke mine adoringly, friends who admire my knitted shawl and show off their own, friends who invite me to spinning club and gorgeous friends who go home and send me a ravelry pattern because I said I loved it and had queued it. How on earth can I get you to understand why there were cute little bags of horse hair for sale if I couldn't work it out for myself? Apparently people stuff mattresses with horse hair, but those sweet little bags....no idea. How could I explain to you my surprise at unpacking farmer Bren's backpack at the end of the day to find everything I'd bought was navy blue or charcoal? How strange and not at all planned. And how can I even remember to record all the different aspects of wool craft that I need to put on my to-do list from owning our own sheep all the way through to dyeing, spinning, weaving and knitting socks. Apparently I can't. You can read my posts from the past few years here and here and here and here where for some reason I was more eloquent. Or, maybe, you could just close your eyes for a second and imagine yourself at a show that celebrates everything you love, in every detail, in all its glory. What would that look like for you I wonder? Go gently my friends, I hope your weekend is filled with your blessings. Big love xx
The space feels old, new, and timeless all at once.
About Charlotte Lane Fox
by felixtree
Mother and child by Foto Foosa
Mit großer Sprachkunst erzählt und deutet Robin Lane Fox die entscheidenden Lebensphasen des heiligen Augustinus. Einfühlsam porträtiert er den Menschen und genialen Denker, der Meisterwerke der Weltliteratur schuf. Zugleich lässt er die faszinierende geistige Welt der Spätantike lebendig werden.
Entrepreneur who founded lastminute.com and is leading the government's campaign to get people online
